When Jodie and Steve Nicholson were told they would need to fund their own in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) they wasted no time in downsizing their home so they could afford a bill that would eventually balloon to £30,000.

They belong to a generation who are selling their homes, raiding their savings and taking on large debts to have a baby as the NHS funds fewer IVF treatments.

In 2012 40 per cent of IVF treatment cycles in the UK were paid for by the NHS, but by 2022 this had declined to 26 per cent as the health service tightened spending. The NHS paid for 20,555 of the roughly 80,450 cycles in 2022, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates the industry.